Method and machine for reclaiming rubber and fabric from tire beads



May 19, 1931. NLE. DAVIS 1,805,588

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR RECLAIMING RUBBER AND FABRIC FROM TIRE BEADS ifi/752655.'

I ATToRNEY.

May 19, 1931. M. E. DAvls 1,805,688 METHOD AND MACHINE FOR RECLAIMING RUBBER AND FABRIC-FROM TIRE BiEADS Filed Jan. 1o. 1929 s sheets-sheet 2 im il mmummurmm ATTORNEYS.

M. E. DAVISY 1,805,688'

METHOD AND MACHINE lF'OR RECLAIMING RUBBER AND FABRIC FROM TIRE BEADS May 19, 1931.

Filed Jan. l0. 192,9 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A TTORNEYJ Patented May 19, 1931 UNITED fSrrA Ti-:svv

pAT1-:NrA 'Fence MAuRroE E. DAVIS, E GRAND RAPIDS', MioHIeAN,` AssreNoE, yEY MEQs'NE AssIeN.

MENTs, To LEo MEYER COMPANY, :or AKRON, omo, A coEroEATioN'oE eine j y METHOD AND MACHINE EOERE'CLATMTNG RUBBER 'AND EAEnIoEBoM TIRE EEAns j Application led JanuaryvlO, 1929.' Serial No. 331,651.

' `5 provide an improved method of slicing strips of rubber and fabric from around the wire core ordinarily present in a tirebead ;to provide an improvedmachine for cutting or slicing thestrips ofirubber and fabric from the bead; and generally,` to provide an improved method and means which will effect afconsiderable economic saving byfwayof reclaiming or recovering what at vpresent is an eco- 'nomic waste. f 7* L. i

An illustrativeembodiment of this inventionis shown in the' accompanyingfdrawings, vinwhich:v Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a sectionalviewtaken on the line :202-2ofFig1.' f

Fig. 3 is a fragmentaryview in elevation taken fromthe right side'of Fig. 1. v

f Fig. 4V is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail, showing the first pair lof feeding .1t 125 rollers.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentaryidetail taken in elevation from the frontof the mal.

' a practicalmethodof reclaiming this rubber v. and fabricis tosever thetire v beads transversely after` they have been removed from ,the casing` and thenpass them Vendwise or ehneo Fig. 6 1s a thm sectionalv view showlnghow the beads are severed from the remainder of an automobile tire casing. y A l Y 7 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of a bead showing the 'strips whichare sliced o of the bead.

ing salvaged each year for the purpose of -reusing the `rubber and fabric therein. It is customary at present'to cut the bead vfrom the remainderof'the tire casing as this bead after being severed from the `tire, is discarded. At some of the'large rubber plants where apconsiderable number of lsalvaged'tires are rbeing reclaimed these discarded 'beads are burned in large fires in order to getv rid of `-them.v v p y 'l On the average, the weight of.' the two beads is approximately 20 per cent of the weight of the entire Icasing and as the strand- 5@ ed wire cable within the bead (occupies only rubber and fabric of tire beads. tempted' method wasl by boiling and soaking At the present time millions of tires are be- .contains a stranded wirecable and such bead,'

lcomprises a frame l supported vby legs '2 a portion thereof, the fabric and rubber surrounding the vvirel cable is discarded with the bead. By weight, a bead isVv approximately 'v50 per cent rubber and fabric. From this it `is apparent that the discarding and burning up of tire beads causes a very large' economic waste.

Attempts have'been made to `salvage the i the beads in vats and tanks until the rubber and fabric became sufficiently loosened from 7 the wire core so that it couldvbe stripped' therefromby hand. This method was not onlyvery'laborious but also the-,cost of 'recovering bysuch method-l was vgreater than the Vvalue ofthe recovered product, except in suchinstances asrwhere prisonxlaboror Another attempted'method `hasbeen by crushing the rubber and fabric 4from-the wire core by use ofhigh pressure. Thismethod alsoproved tobe impractical and at `the presy,

ent time no practical solutionvofA this problem hasbeenmade. y

After a considerabley amount of study devoted to this subject, I have discovered that lengthwise into a machine which is'provided with feedingrollers, positioning holders, and

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rapidly rotatingdisc cutters;y The cutters are so arranged thaty theyy will slice Astrips from the wire core, knives being so positioned .thatv from three-fourths to nine-tenths of a pound of rubber and fabric is recovered on the average from each tire bead.

V*The machine for carrying out this4 method Ewhiclrmay be riveted or bolted thereto. i .The

rear portion' of the framework 1 is provided 7. The countershafth'? )has va power drive pulley 8 keyed thereto andbe'lt pulleys' 9, 10 and 11- keyed thereto atV spaced intervals.,

The belt pulley 9 is provided with a belt'lO which drives a ypulley wh'eelfll rigidlyf secarried on the frame 1 and the shaft 2O is journalled in bearings 23 also carried on the frame 1. The shafts 19 and 20 extend fo-r- Y wardly at a converging angle, as shown most clearly 1n Fig. 1 of the drawings, and the forward ends of said shafts are journalled in bearings 25 and 26 which are vertically movable in their supporting framework, as shown most clearly in Fig. 4. A helical compression spring 27, provided with an adjusting screw 28, is provided for normally holding the bearing downwardly in its framework. The eXtreme ends of the shafts 19 and 20 are provided with feed rollers 29 and 30 which have serrated faces 31 and 32 respectively for gripping the bead as it is passed into the machine. s

Journalled in the framework immediately below each of the shafts 19 and 20 are' countershafts 32 and 33 which are substantially parallel with the shafts 19 and20 and driven by spur gears 34 and 35 which mesh with, similar gears 36V and 37 secured to the countershafts 32 and 33 respectively. The outerlends of the shafts 32 and 33 are providedV with feed rollers 38 and 39 which have V-shaped Vgrooves in their faces and said faces are serrated in the same manner as the 'upper feed rollers 29 and 30 with which they cooperate.

After the tire bead has been transversely severed, it is fed endwise or lengthwise to the first 'set of cooperating feed rollers' 29 and 38 from' which it passes to a supporting' roller 40'rigidly mounted on the frame 1. A holddown roller 41'is journalled on a shaft 42 immediately above the roller 40 so as'to'cooperate therewith and hold the bead 'in' defi- V,nite position. vAs the bead passes from the holding roller 40 .it is enga-ged by av pair of cutter discs 43 and 44 which arerrigidly secured to one endof shafts 45 and 46 respectively The shafts 45 and 46 are journalled in bearings 47 and 48 carried by the frame l and are so positioned that the cutter discs rotate in planes transversely to each other rwith their adjacent edges close together and at an angle so that they will sever ay V-shaped strip .49 from the core 50. The .opposite ends of the shafts 45 and 46 are provided with belt pulleys 51 and 52 which receive a drive belt 753. The belt 53 is driven by the beltpulley -10 on countershaft 7 and passes forwardly over an idler pulley 54, thence around the Vpulley 52, rearwardly over an idler 55, down wardly around an idler 56, forwardly around the pulley 51, thence rearwardly over an idler 57, back to the drive pulley 10.

After the V-shaped strip 49 has been severed from the core, the remainder of the bead passes to the set of feed rollers 30 and 39 and from thereto a second pos-itioner comprising a roller 58 above which is ournalled another roller 59 on a bracket arm 60, the rear end of which ispivotally mounted at 61 to the frame 1 and yieldingly urged downwardly against the positioning roller 58 by a helical compression spring 62 which bears between the frame and the knurled head 63 of an adjusting stud 64 `which slidably passes through the frame and threadably engages the bracket arm 60... As the bead passes from the second positioning means, itis engaged by a second cutter disc 65 which is rigidly secured to the lower end of a shaft 66 journalled in a vertical -bearing 67. The upper end ofthe shaft' from the top side of the bead. TheI amount of these cuts are substantially shown bythe heavy black lines in Fig. 7 of the drawings. In Fig. 6 of the drawings is shown a thin section of an automobile casing 72 from which the two beads 73 and 74 have been severed at the points 75 and 76 respectively. This is the customary way in which the' beads are cut from casings and. in order to vfeed the bead into my improved machine, the beads are transversely severed so as to have a free end to feed into the machine.

In the operation of this machine, the transversely severed tire beads are passed endwise to the feed rollers 29 and 38, thence to the positioningguide which comprises the roller 40 and roller 41.v This holder positions the-tire bead so that the cutter discs 43 and 44 will sever a V-shaped strip from the bead without the cutter discs coming in contact with the stranded wire cable core of thebe-ad. Contact of the cutters with such wire core would, of course, ruin the cutters. fter the cutters 43 and 44 have severed the V-shaped strip 49 from the bead, the bead passes to the feed rollers 30 and 39 and thence to a second positioning guide which comprises the roller 58 and cooperating hold-down roller 59. As the bead leaves this second positioning guide, it is engaged by the rotating disc cutter knife 65 and the strip 71 is severed from the top side of the bead.

the spirit of this invention as defined by the following claims. y

I claim: v l. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, cooperating rollers journalled on said frame for feeding a tire bead lengthwise therethrough, a guide on said frame for positioning the bead after it passes through said `feed rollers, and a pair of cooperating rotating disc cutters positioned to rotate in transverse planes for slicing a V-shaped strip from the bead after passing from said guide.

2. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, cooperating rollers journalled on said frame for feeding a tire bead lengthwise therethrough, a guide on said frame for positioning the bead after it'passes through said feed rollers, a cutter on said frame for slicing a strip from the bead after it passes from said guide, a second pair of feed rollers journalled on said frame in the path of travel of said bead, a second guideon said frame for positioning the bead after it passes from said second set of feed rollers, and a second cutter-on said frame for slicing a strip from said bead after it passes from said second positioning guide. Y

3. A machine of the class described comfrom one face of the bead a transversely continuous substantiallyVshaped slice having angularly related sides connected integrally at the angle, and then cutting the bead longitudinally at the opposite face thereof to sever a straight slice from the same.

6. The method of' reclaiming the rubber and fabric from a tire bead having a wire core, which consists in cutting the bead longitudinally from opposite sides thereof andrat an angle to sever from one face of the bead a substantially V-shaped slice, and then cutting the bead longitudinally at the opposite face thereof to sever a straight slice from the same.

` In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Grand Rapids, Michigan, this 29th day of December, 1928. Y

' y :MAURICE E. DAVIS.

prising a frame, cooperating rollers journalled on said frame for feeding a tire bead' lengthwise therethrough, a guide on said frame for positioning the bead after it passes through said feed rollers, a'pair of cooperating rotating disc cutters positioned to rotate in transverse planes for slicingy a V-shaped strip from the bead after passing from said guide, a second pair of feed rollers journalled on said framein the path of travel of said bead', a second guide on said frame for positioning the bead after passing from said second set of feed rollers, and a second cutterv on said frame for slicing a strip from said bead after it passes from said second posi# tioning guide. 4. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, cooperatingrollers journalled on said frame for feeding a tire bead lengthwise therethrough, a guide on said frame' for positioning thebead after it passes through said feed rollers, apair of cooperating rotating disc cutters positioned to rotate in transverse planes for slicing'a V-shaped strip from the bead after passing from said guide, a second pair of feed rollers journalled on said frame in the path of travel of said bead, a second guide on said frame for positioning the bead after passing 'from said second set of feed rollers, and a second rotating disc cutter on said frame for slicing a strip from said bead after it passes from said second positioning guide.

The method of reclaiming the rubber and fabric from a tire bead, which consists 

